The present invention is directed to automotive vehicles. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an adaptor spindle and hub arrangement allowing free-wheeling of the drive wheel of a vehicle.
It has long been a common practice to tow recreational vehicles and disabled vehicles significant distances behind another vehicle. More recently, the towing of jeeps and the like behind recreational vehicles has beome commonplace. However, the towing of such vehicles with the drive line connected to the drive wheels is not recommended because of possible damage to the transmission and other drive line components of the vehicle. As a result, it has been common practice to disengage the drive shaft so that only the differential is driven by the motion of the vehicle. Other systems have also been employed to raise the vehicle off of its drive wheels onto some other rolling means for towing.
The known solutions to the problem of preventing injury to the drive line of a towed vehicle have generally been inconvenient or impossible to perform, require substantial additional gear or require some technical skill. As a result, the employment of recreational vehicles which are most conveniently towed to a recreation area has been curtailed and made more inconvenient because of the potential damage to the vehicle's drive line.